In January 2013, James Franco told MTV he was planning to adapt "American Tabloid," a crime novel by James Ellroy set in the 1960s. Ellroy, pictured in 2011, has been called "the Demon Dog of American fiction."

In January 2013, James Franco told MTV he was planning to adapt "American Tabloid," a crime novel by James Ellroy set in the 1960s. Ellroy, pictured in 2011, has been called "the Demon Dog of American fiction." (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

James Franco contains multitudes. He has been nominated for an Oscar, stars in goofy movies like the upcoming celebrities-face-the-apocalypse comedy "This is the End," has twice played a gay poet in a period biopic, gone to graduate school, gotten a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, published a poetry chapbook, directed a film that will play at Cannes and much, much more. With this week's news that he's planning to adapt, direct and star in yet another film made from a book, it was time to try to tally up exactly how many movie-and-book projects he's tackled.